


Children Be The Future

by ertrunkener_Wassergeist



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Short One Shot, The Long Night, What happens during the long 10 years?, child character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21724759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ertrunkener_Wassergeist/pseuds/ertrunkener_Wassergeist
Summary: Inspired by a post on Tumblr from SecretEnigma.Young children who survived into the Long Night don't remember the sun, or that the sky is supposed to be blue. A mother is confronted with that knowledge.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Children Be The Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SecretEnigma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretEnigma/gifts).



> For SecretEnigma.  
> You are an inspiration.

Chris – don't call her Chrysogone or she will cut your tongue out with a pair of rusty scissors – had been pleasantly surprised when she had entered one of the common rooms of the community centre. The children sat at a long table in quiet concentration, bent over pieces of paper and colourful crayons strewn between them.

It was a nice break to the running around, screaming laughter and general chaos she was normally met with when she went to take her son home. Chris saw him, wedged between his two best friends, at the other end of the table and couldn't help but smile. The small crease between his brows when he concentrated was so much like his father's it made her heart give a painful squeeze.

Who had managed to find enough crayons for all the children? And from where? And the paper. Paper was starting to get scarce, among a whole slew of other things. Like proper non-magical medicine, for example.

Chris nodded towards Prompto in greeting, who had agreed to watch after the children for today, after Miss Caeli had been confirmed to be scourge-sick the day before. Chris wondered who would take the job after her.

Prompto grinned cheerfully at her and waved. “Heya Chris. How's the hunt been?”

Chris was a wildlife hunter who had lived in Old Lestallum with her husband and son until they had had to flee to safety. More and more wildlife had crowded around the city in an attempt to escape the growing numbers of the deamons, and had damaged the power lines. Her husband had died in the resulting chaos and she had barely managed to escape with her son, who had been a toddler of barely three years back then.

She grimaced and shook her head at Prompto's question. “We managed to find tracks of an anak herd, but the herd itself...” she shrugged helplessly.

Prompto made a face, but covered it up quickly when some of the children looked up.

“Mum!”

Like a little canon ball, her son slammed into her legs. Chris staggered at the force and laughed. She ruffled his hair and quietly marvelled at how much he had grown in the past three years since they had come to Lestallum. He was six now.

“Mum, Mister Prompto gave us paper and cra- crae- stuff to draw on! Look what I made!”

Her son darted back towards the place he had been sitting at and came back with a sheet of printing paper. She took it gently and froze. Unbidden, tears welled up in her eyes and began a silent march down her face. She bit her lower lip to keep the sobs from escaping.

In and of itself the picture was harmless enough. Five stick-figures stood in front of a house. They were Ales – her son – between herself and who was probably his father and the elderly couple they were sharing the house with. But what made her cry and want to sob like she hadn't since it had sunk in that her husband was truly dead, was the sky her son had drawn.

It was a roiling mass of black circles and lines. No blue. No sun.

“Mum?” asked Ales, his head tilted questioningly and brows furrowed in childish worry. “Why are you crying?”

“It's nothing, my love. Mum is just so happy right now, she has to cry. Sometimes people do that.”

 _Dawn will come_ , Chris thought fiercely as she clutched Ales close to her. _Dawn will come_.


End file.
